The Outsiders
S E Hinton
YEAR 8 ENGLISH
Who is S E Hinton?
Susan Eloise Hinton was born in Tulsa,
Oklahoma. She has always enjoyed reading
but wasn't satisfied with the literature that
was being written for young adults, which
influenced her to write novels like The
Outsiders. That book, her first novel, was
published in 1967 by Viking.
Once published, The Outsiders gave her a lot
of publicity and fame, and also a lot of
pressure. S.E. Hinton was becoming known as
"The Voice of the Youth" among other titles.
This kind of pressure and publicity resulted in
a three year long writer's block.
Who is S E Hinton?
A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
“My hobby is horse-back riding; I've shown both
jumping and dressage.
I read constantly, and occasionally take a class at
the university not for credit - it's more fun when
you don't have to take the tests!
A writer's life is not very exciting - usually you're
alone in a room with your tools - paper, pen,
imagination. (I usually write long-hand first, then
put it on a computer.)
I walk the dog, ride my horse, wander the grocery
store wondering what to cook for dinner.
So much for my glamourous life.”
Historical context
The book reflects the growing disillusionment and
social stratification Americans experienced during
the 1960s. Young people were finding their voices
and making their presence felt on the political
stage. Race relations were changing dramatically
as the Civil Rights Movement drew attention to
systematic and pervasive discrimination against
African Americans. Though Hinton does not refer
directly to any historical or political events in her
work, the book seeks to elevate public awareness
of marginalized groups and to validate the voices
and experiences of young people.
Historical context
The 1960s started off as the dawn of a golden
age to most Americans. On January 20, 1961,
the handsome and charismatic John F. Kennedy
became president of the United States. His
confidence that, as one historian put it, “the
government possessed big answers to big
problems” seemed to set the tone for the rest
of the decade. However, that golden age never
materialized. On the contrary, by the end of the
1960s, despite the 1969 “Summer of Love,” it
seemed that the nation was falling apart.
Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” splintered as
the Democratic Party split and America became
increasingly enmeshed in the Vietnam War.
Hair styles
Which 1960’s hairstyle do you
like the most?
Find one photo
which showcases
your favourite
1960’s hairstyle.
Here is Miss
Wightman’s:
Colour television
The United States and Canada made the
transition to colour television by the mid1960s, and the United Kingdom started the
conversion to colour TV from 1967. Many
European countries followed in 1968.
KEY EVENTS IN THE 1960’S
The death of Marilyn Monroe (1962)
Assassination of JFK (1963)
Martin Luther King’s “I Have a
Dream” speech (1963)
Civil Rights Act (1964)
First issue of Rolling Stone magazine
(1967)
Neil Armstrong walks on the moon
(1969)
FOOD IN THE 1960’S
Pop Tarts were first introduced back in 1964, while
the sugary frosted versions we know and love hit
the shelves in 1967 with four flavors: Dutch-Apple,
Concord Grape, Raspberry, and Brown SugarCinnamon.
While canned pasta had been around for a few
decades, Spaghetti-Os were different. They were
created in 1965 for an audience of kids, with round
shapes that were easy for kids to eat and a lighter,
sweeter sauce.
60s food saw many new trends take hold and none
more strongly than instant food. Quaker Oats
introduced instant oatmeal in September 1961
Find a food product which
was created in the 1960’s
Find the name and logo of the product
What were the main ingredients used?
Do we still use this product today?
How has it changed?
Television IN the 1960’s
film IN the 1960’s
MUSIC IN THE 1960’S
From the Summer of Love to the
summer of Woodstock, the winds
of change that blew through
America in the Sixties always
seemed to pick up speed between
June and September. Whether it
was the British Invasion arriving
on our shores or the Beach
Boys hitting the waves, the decade
was dominated by sizzling platters
that could be as cartoonish at the
Archies or as as poignant as
“People Got to Be Free.”
“The thing the sixties did
was to show us the
possibilities and the
responsibility that we all
had. It wasn't the answer. It
just gave us a glimpse of the
possibility.”
John lennon (the beatles)
THE BEATLES – “I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND” (1963)
“We wrote a lot of stuff
together, one on one,
eyeball to eyeball. Like
in ‘I Want to Hold Your
Hand,’ I remember when
we got the chord that
made the song. And we
had, ‘Oh you-u-u/ got
that something…’ And
Paul hits this chord [E
minor] and I turn to him
and say, ‘That’s it!’ I
said, ‘Do that again!’ In
those days, we really
used to absolutely write
like that—both playing
into each other’s
noses.”
John Lennon
The supremes “where did our love go?” (1964)
“The girls” as The Supremes were
known among the Motown
family, were not considered a
likely pick to click on the
company roster when they first
joined its ranks in 1961.
But Berry Gordy Jr. believed in
them more strongly and for
longer than did anyone else, and
the girls rewarded his ample
attention by coming to embody
his dream of the Sound of Young
America.
During the heat of the British
Invasion in the summer of 1964,
Motown released "Where Did
Our Love Go?” and the trio of
Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and
Florence Ballard was launched on
its streak of five consecutive
Number One hits.
And that was only the beginning.
Aretha franklin– “respect” (1967)
“Respect” became a
soundtrack for the 1960s.
Franklin, then just 24
years old, infused it with a
soulful and revolutionary
demand, a declaration of
independence that was
unapologetic,
uncompromising and
unflinching: The song was
a demand for something
that could no longer be
denied. She had taken a
man’s demand for respect
from a woman when he
got home from work and
flipped it. The country had
never heard anything like
it.
THE archies – “sugar sugar” (1969)
"Sugar, Sugar" by The
Archies — yes, from the
comics — was named No.
1 on Billboard's Year-End
Countdown in 1969. The
song first hit No. 1 on
the Billboard Hot 100 on
Sept. 20 of that year.
"It was very catchy, it had
a great hook, it was very
singable and we laughed
— we had a good time
doing it," Toni Wine, one of
the real singersongwriters behind The
Archies' hit, says.
Choose one singer /
band from the 1960’s
and find out about
their style, influence
and popularity
ARTISTS TO CHOOSE FROM:
Aretha Franklin
Bob Dylan
Brenda Lee
Elvis Presley
The Archies
The Beatles
The Monkees
The Supremes
Stevie Wonder
THINGS TO RESEARCH:
Their most popular song of the 1960’s
Why they were so influential
Their style (clothing, hair, lyrics,
meaning of their songs…)
SUMMARY
The Socs and the Greasers are rival
gangs from the opposite sides of town.
The Socs’ idea of a good time is
cruising around in their flash cars and
beating up long-haired Greasers like
Ponyboy.
Ponyboy
knows
what
to
expect and that he can count on his
older brothers, and other friends – until
one night when someone takes things
too far. Ponyboy may seem tough, but
on the insider, he is running scared …
Greasers & Socs –
Who are they?
GREASERS
Lower class East side teens.
“Greasers are almost like hoods;
we steal things and drive old
souped-up cars and hold up gas
stations and have a gang fight
once in a while.”
SOCS
Upper class West side teens.
“We get jumped by the Socs.
I'm not sure how you spell it,
but it's the abbreviation for
the Socials, the jet set, the
West-side rich kids.”
In the S.E. Hinton novel, 'The Outsiders', greasers are the boys
that live on the poverty-stricken East Side of town. While others
may judge them for their appearance, the greasers we meet in
THE GREASERS
the novel are just trying to get by.
When the novel's narrator, Ponyboy, describes greaser attire,
he says, 'We wear our hair long and dress in blue jeans and T-
shirts, or leave our shirttails out and wear leather jackets and
tennis shoes or boots. I'm not saying that either Socs or
greasers are better; that's just the way things are.’
The greaser clothing style may be a default of the financial
situation on the East Side. Greasers are not able to afford to
wear the high-end styles like the Socs, but they are proud of
their look.
THE socs
On the surface, the Socs are sophisticated
and cool. They get good grades, wear nice
clothes, drive tuff cars, and have a lot of
money. However, once you break through the
surface, you can see that the Socs were
taught at an early age to put up a wall and
hide who they really are. They say fake
things just to have something to say and do
not trust each other at all. The Socs have so
much time and money to spare that they do
not know what to do with themselves. They
are constantly looking for something to
satisfy them, but are unable to find anything
because they already have everything they
want.
Your task now…
In your OneNote you will find a page called ‘1960s
research task’ – we have covered some of the answers to
the questions in this task, in the PowerPoint over the last
week. Hopefully you remember !
You will be working on this context task for the next two
lessons.
Slang used in “The Outsiders”
As directed by Miss Morey, research the definition for your
chosen words below. We will share our answers as a class.
- Fuzz
- Heater
- Broad
- Rank
- Tuff
- Hood
- Cancer stick
- Jumped
- Hacked off
- Rumble
- Pickled
- Make tracks
- The cooler
- JD
- Weed